Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by involvement of multiple small and large joints with multisystem extra-articular manifestations. Peripheral neuropathy is known extra-articular manifestation of RA with the incidence of around 39.19% as per previous studies. Early diagnosis and treatment of peripheral neuropathy has been shown to improve both physical and functional disabilities of patients with RA. Objectives: The primary objective was to study prevalence and patterns of peripheral neuropathy in patients with RA. The secondary objective was to study demographic, clinical parameters, disease severity, and extra- articular manifestations in patients with RA with and without peripheral neuropathy. Materials and Methods: Consecutive patients of RA were recruited. Detailed clinical examination and electrophysiological tests were done to diagnose peripheral neuropathy. The demographic and clinical parameters were noted and tabulated. Student's t -test was used to analyze continuous variable, whereas Chi-square test was used for analysis of categorical variables. Results: Of 89 patients with RA, 75.28% ( n = 67) patients had peripheral neuropathy electrophysiologically, whereas 20.89% (14 patients of 67) had superficial touch sensory loss on examination. Subclinical neuropathy was present in 50.74% ( n = 34) of patients. Statistically significant association between the presence of neuropathy and age of the patients, disease duration, use of disease-modifying antirheumatoid drugs, disease severity (disease activity score-28), and presence of subcutaneous nodules ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: Patients with RA, especially elderly patients, should undergo electrophysiological testing to rule out peripheral neuropathy. Electrophysiological study is a diagnostic and gold standard tool to diagnose subclinical neuropathy in patients with RA. Presence of peripheral neuropathy in these patients has been found to be significantly associated with deteriorating health status, pain scores, and presence of extra-articular manifestations.

Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) encephalitis is an uncommon illness, with about 2 cases per 250,000 per year. Most are caused by HSV-1, with 10% having HSV-2 as the aetiologic factor. We present a case of Herpes simplex type1encephalitis in a 70 year old male with an uncommon presentation. The patient was a known case of endogenous depression with no medical records and on no treatment for the same, reported with acute changes in mental state for the past five days. He was talking irrelevantly, had hallucinations and was unduly aggressive and violent. He was subjected to a thorough clinical and diagnostic work-up which included cerebrospinal fluid analysis, CT head and MRI brain. MRI brain was suggestive of mild subdural effusion which hinted towards infectious cause of encephalitis. The cerebrospinal fluid viral serology panel detected herpes simplex type 1 virus (HSV1) that was later confirmed by CSF Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. Hence, acyclovir was initiated by intravenous route at a dosage of 10mg/kg body weight and continued for two weeks. This case holds significance in view of the fact that organic causes must be excluded in suspected cases of psychiatric illness especially in the absence of fever. Also, CSF-PCR testing plays a pivotal role in diagnosing herpes simplex encephalitis.

Snakebite is considered as a significant public health problem contributing considerably to morbidity and mortality. A neurotoxic snake bite can present from mild ptosis to complete paralysis with external and internal ophthalmoplegia. Three patients presented in emergency intubated outside with deeply comatose, fixed dilated pupil, and absent doll's eye reflex mimicking as brain dead.

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) causes mild to moderate illness in most patients but in some cases a severe illness may manifest. Such patients usually present with hypoxaemic respiratory failure due to acute lung injury caused by a viral infection and host-mediated cytokine storm. The characteristic radiographic findings are ground-glass opacities with consolidation in posterior basal areas of bilateral lungs and rarely pneumothorax (PTX) and pneumomediastinum (PM). The incidence of these findings was notably higher in the second wave of the pandemic in India in 2021 as compared to the first wave in 2020. The etiopathogenesis of this life-threatening condition can be due to Macklin phenomenon post-cytokinemediated diffuse alveolar injury, patient self-inflicted lung injury (P-SILI), and barotrauma in mechanically ventilated patients. The presence of pneumomediastinum is associated with higher mortality rates, prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) stays making it a poor prognostic marker. There is no consensus regarding its management in COVID-19 patients although both aggressive and conservative strategies have been tried.

Hepatopathy is a serious complication of malaria, and is associated with other organ dysfunction and greater mortality.

Background & ObjectivesClassically associated with Plasmodium (P.) falciparum, neurological complications in severe malaria is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. However, reports implicate the long considered benign P. vivax for causing severe malaria as well. We aimed to analyse the cerebral complications in malaria, and study if there is a species-related difference in the presentation and outcomes.MethodsWe retrospectively compared patients with malaria hospitalised from 2009–15, with (n=105) and without (n=1155) neurological involvement regarding outcomes, complications, demographic attributes, clinical features, and laboratory parameters. Subsequently, the same parameters were studied in those with cerebral malaria due to mono-infections of P. vivax or P. falciparum and their co-infection.ResultsCerebral malaria was observed in 8.3% (58/696), 7.4% (38/513) and 17.6% (6/51) of P. vivax, P. falciparum and combined plasmodial infections respectively. Those with cerebral malaria had significantly (p<0.05) longer hospitalisation, delayed defervescence, required mechanical ventilatory support and dialysis despite comparable levels of azotemia and renal insufficiency, and adverse outcomes compared to non-cerebral malaria. Severe thrombocytopenia, respiratory distress and mechanical ventilation were significantly (p<0.05) associated with P. vivax cerebral malaria.ConclusionsThe plasmodial species are comparable in clinical and laboratory parameters and outcomes in cerebral malaria in isolation and combination (p>0.05). P. vivax is emerging as the predominant cause of cerebral malaria, and its virulence is comparable to P. falciparum.

We describe a case of a 25-year-old primigravida, who presented to the emergency department with fever, arthralgia and erythematous maculopapular eruption. There was confluent violaceous macular erythema on the arms, v-area of the neck and upper back with periorbital oedema, mimicking dermatomyositis. There was flagellate erythema on the back. Skin biopsy and systemic investigations helped to rule out dermatomyositis. A final diagnosis of adult-onset Still’s disease with atypical cutaneous manifestations was made. This atypical variant is associated with a worse prognosis. Early recognition of this clinical variant can be life-saving for the patient.

COVID-19 is known to present with respiratory symptoms, which can lead to severe pneumonia and respiratory failure. However, it can have multisystem complications such as cardiovascular and neurological manifestations. Cardiovascular complications of SARS-CoV-2 infection are still underreported in India. We have compiled four cases received in our emergency department with different cardiovascular manifestations at presentation and were diagnosed with COVID-19. The cardiovascular manifestations reported by previous studies comprise myocarditis, cardiogenic shock, arrhythmias, pulmonary embolism, deep vein embolism, acute heart failure, and myocardial infarction. Hence, a thorough cardiac examination with ECG correlations and point of care cardiac markers should be done in all the patients with COVID-19 infection. Immediate initiation of prophylactic anticoagulation in COVID-19 hospitalized patients is mandatory. Geriatric patients and those with co-morbidities can have a fulminant course of illness; so our treatment protocol should be more vigilant in these patients. However, most importantly, we must not forget the significance of bedside echocardiography, lung ultrasound, and point of care markers.